Devotion to the Teacher

There is a tendency to project the source of truth onto another. This often happens in our relationship with the teacher and it acts as a barrier to true awakening. One Thursday evening, at one of my teaching sessions in Corte Madera, Laura raised her hand to speak. She is an earnest young woman who had recently attended one of my five-day residential retreats.

“I feel confused,” she said. “A part of me wants to give myself over to you completely. I can feel devotion arising within me. But another part of me feels afraid. I do not trust you and I want to run from you.”

“That is perfectly natural,” I replied. “When someone is very present with you, it is a beautiful experience. It is the most perfect gift we can share with each other. It is appropriate that you would feel love for me. But the danger is that you will project the source of that love onto me, and that you will lose yourself in your devotion.”

She confessed that she had done this with a guru she had been with several years ago.

“There are many people on this planet who happily encourage your projections and are supported by your devotion. They want you to give yourself over to them and it is not surprising that mistrust should arise as a byproduct of your devotion.”

I paused for a while to allow my words to be absorbed

“A true teacher will not allow you to project the source of love onto him. He or she will be very skilled at reflecting the love back to you, until you recognize that the love you feel is arising within you, and that you are the source of the love. A true teacher will insist that you reclaim all your projections, both positive and negative. A true teacher will not allow you to lose yourself in devotion.”

Comments

#1

Beverly Stewart•15th December 2009 7:55 am

Thank you for this article. It beautifully explains the intense higher love and devotion I feel for my teacher and why he always projects the love and devotion back to me. My teacher mirrors God and the more I give to him the more he gives back to me. It's been a beautiful experience. I realize that it's God loving him through me and God's reflection in him that I love and adore.